Mastraccio, Noon embark on legislative tour

AUGUSTA — State Representatives Anne Marie Mastraccio and William Noon, both of Sanford-Springvale, recently embarked on a three-day legislative tour sponsored by the Maine Development Foundation.

The tour is a tradition for newly elected legislators that provides them with opportunities to get to know more about the State of Maine. Mastraccio and Noon, both Democrats, were elected by voters in November to represent House Districts 143 and 144, respectively.

During the tour, Mastraccio and Noon the Cross Convention Center that is currently under construction in Bangor and is slated to be finished in June. They also visited many of the research and development facilities at the University of Maine at Orono; in an email to the Sanford News, Mastraccio said she and Noon were particularly impressed with the school’s immunology research, the work being done in its Advanced Structures and Composites Center, and its collaboration with Maine entrepreneurs regarding business development.

“There is a lot going on at this world-class university,” Mastraccio said.

She added that the legislators’ tour also included “busy and informative” stops at Madison Paper, a rural community health center in Bingham; a new state-of-the-art Poland Spring bottling plant in Kingfield; Thomas College in Waterville; and New Balance shoe factories in Skowhegan and Norridgewolk.

For their final stop, the legislators visited the Margaret Chase Smith Library in Skowhegan — where they saw an exhibit that included items from Sanford’s own Margaret Chase Smith Elementary School on Twombley Road.

“All in all, it was a great opportunity to explore an area of Maine some of us were not so familiar with and reflect upon how alike we all are in this great state,” Mastraccio said.